Polymer Clay Productions, Inc.Polymer Clay Productions

We want to extend a warm welcome and extensive gratitude to Patty Barnes, who has graciously offered to come on board and collaborate with us to create Lesson Plans for teaching polymer clay in the K-12 classroom. We will be posting twice monthly plans and the links can be found on the Lesson Plans page. One of the concerns that we hope to address is creating worthwhile plans for homeschooled students. We are also in discussion about creating some kind of national contest involving working with polymer clay to get students, teachers, and clayers interested in the many creative possibilities of working with clay at school.

Patty is a former President of the National Polymer Clay Guild, www.npcg.org, and holds a lovely bunch of credentials herself, including BFA, MA (TX A&M Corpus Christi) and All Level Teaching Certificate (Texas) plus post graduate work, certified to teach Advanced Placement Portfolio and Art History, and had a long distinguished career as an art teacher. As a novice classroom art teacher myself, I can’t say how happy I am to have Patty as a guide and mentor. Being able to pick a more experienced teacher’s brain is such a privilege. *LOL* Please leave comments or come over to the forum if you have any specific requests or suggestions regarding our lesson plans. Thank you again, Patty!

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Since the Bottles of Hope challenge was about 45 minutes we had to make the show in parts and we will be releasing part 2 on Polymer Clay TV this week and we will be releasing the 3 interviews we did at CHA as well. Make sure to come back on Friday and watch both shows. You won’t want to miss Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg,Tommie Howell and Charlene (Cat) Therien as they share a little more about themselves in their interviews.

I spoke with Debbie of Ranger and she informed me that UTEE will not melt until around 290 degrees F. Kira and I were concerned with melting as we both live in Florida and the temperatures can get pretty hot we didn’t want to make some beads and have it melt off. I am glad to hear that we won’t have that problem as Linda Peterson demonstrated the most beautiful beads that I want to try making and they involve UTEE. Make sure to check them out at the end of part 2 of the Bottles of Hope show, there is a photo of the beads and of Linda demoing.

I will be contacting Polyform to see just how many colors of Studio By Sculpey there are and will keep you posted on what I find out. If you want to be one of the first people to try the clay we are giving a bar each away to 2 of our listeners & viewers and all you need to do is post a comment on our site and you will be entered, tomorrow is the last day to enter. We will announce the winners on August 1st so don’t delay if you want to be entered. We will also be giving away several other goodies so make sure to join our mailing list and you will be automatically entered into the monthly challenges.

I just finished reading Lets Start Scrapbooking and in there they talked about not using PVC in your scrapbooks. The manufacturers of polymer clay have said polymer clay is safe for scrapbooks so now I am questioning that and have sent an e-mail to the editor to find out why she says not to use PVC. I will let you know what I find out.

The Polymer Clay Artists Guild Of Etsy will be announcing the winners of the monthly challenge so check out the website for updates this week. Thanks to Tamara for all her hard work on coordinating the monthly challenges. You can see some of Tamara’s unique work at her etsy site blockpartypress

We want to encourage everyone who is having a polymer clay event or teaching a polymer clay class to head over to our forum and share them with everyone. We also welcome submissions for the show so if you want to see something on the show, have an idea for a show or you have something to share with the polymer clay community please send us an e-mail at polymerclaypodcast@yahoo.com or you can always call us as well. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Click right below to listen to the podcast. If you are getting this on an RSS feed, you’ll have to visit our website to watch this week’s video.

Join us as we discuss our experience at the CHA show (Craft & Hobbies Association) in Chicago last weekend. It was great fun. We met a few polymer clay artists as well as representatives of the three polymer clay suppliers- Amaco, Polyform, and Makins. We did video interviews with Lynne, Tommie, and Cat which will air next Friday, and filmed Amaco’s Bottle of Hope awards. You can watch part 1 today, and part 2, as well as the interviews, will air next week. We saw Polyform’s new product, Studio by Sculpey, and got a few samples to share with you. We also talked to Donna Dewberry about the upcoming release of Studio clay in December, as well as the Home Décor projects she has planned. Some of the things displayed in the booth included wall mirrors, vases, candlesticks, votive holders, and garden tables. The clay was used sculpturally to make floral and leaf designs, as well as made to look like faux tiles. It was interesting and we will share more about this new clay as Polyform gives us the info.

It was so much fun to visit the show as Press. We were treated really well by CHA, the Press has a quiet room away from the hustle where we could have a hot drink or get cold water, sit for a minute, and conduct our interviews. This is also where we picked up catalogs and samples left by companies that wanted to get the word out about their new products. Definitely visit a CHA show if you get the chance!

We also picked up some great product samples to review and try, and some to give away. Coming soon to our shop- a prize gallery, where if you win a monthly giveaway, you can pick your prize!

Here are some links to things we talked about today-
www.studiobysculpey.com (nothing there yet but stay tuned)
www.makinsclay.com (air dry polymer clay…and wonderful tools)
www.amaco.com (check out the Bottles of Hope auction!)
www.riverpoetdesign.com (Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg- check out her classes)
www.catherienarts.com (Cat- check out her free video demos on Monday nights)
www.pcagoe.com – vote on your favorite representation of “Summer memories” to win a prize!

Don’t forget to leave us comments on our site in order to be entered to win one of our Studio by Sculpey clay samples. Also please consider writing us a review wherever you download your podcast- itunes, meefedia, yahoo, google, odeo….reviews help our rankings, so we thank you for taking the time!

Here is Part one of the Amaco Bottles of Hope award Ceremony, MC’d by Lisa Pavelka:

Online Videos by Veoh.com

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Well, I was able to find a new headset mic yesterday so as promised we will be releasing both a podcast and videocast this Friday.  This episode of Polymer Clay TV with feature Part 1 of the Bottles of Hope award ceremony. The ceremony is about 45 minutes long so we had to break it into parts so it won’t take forever to download and fill all the bandwith.  We plan on releasing part 2 next Friday so stay tuned for that. We also did some interviews that we are trying to fit in so stay tuned for those as well, they are worth the wait.

Polymer Cafe magazine wrote a blurb about us and the Polymer Clay Artists Guild Of Etsy in the Summer issue on page 56. One of my millefiori pens is also featured on page 63 and it looks like they will be doing the tutorial I sent them in a later issue, so watch out for that.  Thanks Polymer Cafe!

I can’t believe it is almost Friday, where did the week go? We got a little behind with the traveling so we hope to be caught up soon. Kira will be listing the pigment ink in our shop so make sure to check back for that. There are 16 gorgeous colors to choose from and they are all so cool. The Dew Drop Brillance inks look small but they are loaded with ink and last forever and work great on the clay.

Make sure to post a comment on the website to be entered to win one of the two bars of the new Studio By Sculpey clay we are giving away. You can be one of the first to try it and I have to say I am liking it. I spoke with Polyform yesterday and they said they should have some photos and projects to send us so when we get them we will make sure to post them for everyone to see.  The clay comes in a variety of colors that were designed with home decor in mind.

Make sure to sign up for our newsletter if you have not already done so because we have lots of goodies to give away this month and everyone who is on the mailing list is automatically entered to win.  Happy Claying!!!

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As you know Kira and I just got back from the CHA show in Chicago, well the airlines broke my microphone headset which I use for the podcast. I am going to town to see if I can find another one today. We were thinking if I can’t find one that we would release part 1 of the Bottles of Hope award ceremony on Polymer Clay TV early since it is edited and ready to go. Wish me luck today because if I find a headset we will probably be releasing both shows on Friday as a bonus and you will get to see some of the Amaco awards ceremony. We had to break the awards ceremony into parts because of the length and bandwith issues so make sure not to miss any of it.

We received a phone call from Rita yesterday wanting to know more about the new clay Polyform is making called, Studio By Sculpey. What I can tell you is that I really liked it for caning and it kneaded really easily, in fact it took just seconds and was just a matter of squeezing it in my hands and shaping it. There was no cracking or crumbling. The color palette was made with large scale home decor in mind. Most of the colors are muted tones for the home but there was a bright purple color mixed in. It feels almost chalky or powdery and not sticky at all. I haven’t done much with it except make a cane. When Donna Dewberry was demonstrating the clay one of the points she made is that you can make a flower and it won’t lose its shape. In other words you don’t have to use an armature to hold the shape of a bead or something as the clay doesn’t move like Premo or other brands. The petals stayed where they were put and did not droop. I can see the potential of the clay and want to get my hands on some other colors. We received a call yesterday from Polyform and they mentioned they had some projects & photos they might be able to send us. I will try to call them on my way to town today and let you know what else I find out about the clay. There were also mock up cards of the 40 new tools they plan to launch with the clay. There were no samples so I can’t say how they will work but they did look interesting. I am a tool- a- holic and am always looking for new things to play with.

Makins Clay had some really cool tools as well. Kira & my favorite would have to be the extruder that has a sort of crank handle and is made out of metal. It worked great and we will probably be demoing it on a future episode. Scott Mizevitz was also using it in his demo at the Amaco booth so it seems to work great with all the polymer clay brands. Makins also had an extruder that will make a hole and extrude a sort of tube that you could use to make beads. Very interesting…

Linda Peterson was demoing a really cool technique in the Amaco booth, where she took clay and gold or silver leaf and made beads and then covered the beads with dye ink and then sealed it with UTEE. They were beautiful! Kira and my only concern is that we both live in Florida and that if we use the UTEE that it might melt. If anyone has had any experience with this, please let us know. We will keep you posted about this weeks show. Hope everyone has a creative day!

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Well we were on our first assignment as press at the Creative Hobby Association show (CHA) this past weekend. It was a whirlwind weekend full of crafty goodness. We were invited to film the Bottles Of Hope award ceremony that Amaco was having in their booth at the show. Lisa Pavelka was the host and an an old friend I hadn’t seen in 4-5 years. It was so great to see her, we popped in after one of her classes to say hi and she had the most incredible artwork on display. Amaco also surprised Lisa with an award at the show that you will be able to see on Polymer Clay TV.

I want to share everything about the weekend but so much went on that it is easier to talk about it on the podcast then to write it all down. We will be showing the awards on Polymer Clay TV next Friday so stay tuned for that. We also had the pleasure of meeting some amazingly talented artists. We are happy to say that we were able to get interviews with 2 of the winners of the award challenge for the Bottles Of Hope. For those who do not know about the Bottles of Hope program it is a program to take chemotherapy bottles or small bottles and to create pieces of artwork out of polymer clay that embody the theme of hope. They are then given to cancer patients to help give them hope and to let people know that someone cares and created something to show their support in trying times. I encourage everyone to get involved with this wonderful program. You can find more out about it by visiting Amaco’s website.

Amaco is re-introducing Friendly Plastic and doing some really cool things. One of pieces they made with Friendly Clay was a Mardi Gras Outfit which Kira Proudly modeled on Polymer Clay TV in an upcoming episode but here is a photo of it on display.

We also had the pleasure of interviewing 2 of the award winners of the Amaco Bottles Of Hope awards, Tommie Howell and Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg. They were such neat people we just had so much fun doing the interviews and you will get to see those on Polymer Clay TV as well. Lynne Ann & Tommie will be sending us some photos of their amazing work so you will get to see it as well as their winning bottles.

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We also interviewed a very talented artist & cane maker Charlene (Cat) Therien, she was so fun to talk to and she gave Kira and I one of her beautiful butterfly barrettes which I wore on one of the interviews. Unfortunately it was the first and last time I got to wear it as I forgot it in the hotel because I set it aside to make sure it was on the top of my carry on and didn’t get broken and forgot to put it in. Bummer! Make sure to check out her website to see her great canes and on top of that she sells them so you don’t have to make your own.

We went by the Polyform booth to check out the new clay they are making called Studio by Sculpey and they had samples of a light blue color. Here is a photo of what it looks like in the package and with some removed. There is a sort of cardboard waxy paper that the clay sits on in the package.

We have 2 extra bars to give away to 2 of our listeners and viewers. All you have to do is make a comment on our website or on Itunes and you will be automatically entered and we will announce the two winners in our newsletter and on the website on August 1st 2007. They will each get one bar which weigh approximately 3 ounces. I really like the clay and was able to make a crisp cane out of it, it feels kind of chalky as opposed to sticky. I asked Polyform how does it cane and they told me it wasn’t for caning so of course I had to try caning with it and to be honest I really liked it. It sliced nicely right after I made the cane. They say it is more durable then Premo. I question that because they had a larger vase made from the clay that had a large crack in it and I have never had that happen with Premo. I did however have that happen with Fimo Soft when it first came on the market. They did not want us to film or take any photos of their booth but I can tell you that the booth was dedicated to promoting the new addition to their clay line Studio by Sculpey.They had vases, drawer pulls and those little patio tables as well as some candlesticks. We were told since the clay wouldn’t be available until January next year that they didn’t want to tease the customers. For those of you who have never attended one of these shows thousands of people attend them over four days so obviously they had no problem teasing thousands of the industry people. Donna Dewberry did several tutorials at the booth and in the demonstration area which we sat in on. Apparently she was brought on board to work and train people to use the new line of clay Studio by Sculpey and is not on board for Premo or Sculpey. Make sure to tune in this Friday when Kira and I share lots more about our encounter and trip.

Polymer Clay Podcast will be available for download this Friday from our site, Itunes,Google Video,Yahoo Video,Veoh,YouTube as well as over 200 other directories. In this episode we will be sharing much more of our thoughts experiences on the show and the people we met so stay tuned and check back on Friday to listen.

Make sure to sign up for our newsletter to be automatically entered into our monthly drawings for prizes. We have a T-Shirt that Amaco gave us that we will be giving away as well as some other goodies we have to share.

We have also decided to create a prize gallery where our winners can pick a prize of their choice from the gallery so stay tuned for that. Enjoy the show!

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